Power lines for electric vehicles--such as the one described in German Patent n.degree.1.011.914 by Ludwig Reihardt, published on Jul. 11, 1957 --are known to comprise an elongated insulating enclosure closed at the top by a number of conducting plates aligned in a straight direction and insulated from one another. The enclosure houses an elastically deformable conducting strip element made of ferromagnetic material, and which is attracted by the magnetic field generated by electromagnets to flex a portion of the conducting strip element towards the conducting plates to electrically supply at least one.
French Patent n.degree.1.151.382 by Jean-Florent DE BRUYN and Jose-Gaston DE BRUYN, published on Jan. 29, 1958, describes an electric vehicle current supply system comprising a hollow elongated insulating enclosure closed at the top by a number of conducting plates aligned in the traveling direction of the vehicle and separated by insulating elements interposed between adjacent conducting plates. The enclosure houses an elastically deformable conducting strip element extending in the traveling direction of the vehicle, and having a strip portion of ferromagnetic material on which is superimposed a strip portion of good electrically conducting material. The conducting element is attracted by the magnetic field generated by electromagnets on an electric vehicle to flex a portion of the conducting strip element towards the conducting plates to electrically supply at least one.
The power lines described in the above patents comprise a continuous conducting strip element extending the full length of the line, and which is practically impossible to produce, on account of the length of the line, and would anyway be extremely difficult to house inside the hollow enclosure. Moreover, such lines in no way provide for protecting the hollow enclosure, which is easily penetrated by external agents (such as water, vapour, dust, gas, etc.), which may damage the conducting strip element and electric contacts, or establish electric bridge connections between the conducting strip element and conducting plates.